


Lie to Me

by peacenik_jesus



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 15:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18055040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacenik_jesus/pseuds/peacenik_jesus
Summary: Tumblr prompt: "You could have at least lied to me!"





	Lie to Me

"You look like shit.”

Jesus gave Daryl a wounded look as the man sat down at his bedside. “It’s not enough I’ve been skewered, you’ve got to come in and take a stab and my ego too?”

“What?” Daryl shrugged, affronted. “Cause I said you look like shit? You do.”

“Thanks,” Jesus rolled his eyes. “You could have at least lied to me.”

“You want me to say you look pretty?” The words made Jesus blush. “Pft. You know I ain’t one for stuff like that.”

Of course he knew, but it still didn’t stop him from hoping that one day Daryl would verbally express how he felt about Jesus without it coming out like an insult or a slight. Looking around to make sure they were alone, Jesus turned his palm up in silent request and Daryl laid his hand on top, offering a gentle squeeze. “I was starting to think you weren’t coming to see me.”

“I’ve been tryin’a get that girl to talk.”

“I know,” Jesus said gently. “Aaron told me before he left. You really think it was a good idea bringing her here?”

“If I can get her to talk,” he shrugged again. “Without lyin’. We gotta know how many of ‘em there are; where their camp is. Can’t keep letting our people go out there blind. They’d’a done the same thing to Eugene and Rosita that they did to you, they’d do it to any of us. I ain’t gonna let that happen.”

“Just be careful. Please?”

Daryl nodded, “Always am. ‘Sides, I got Dog to watch my back.”

“Don’t go out there alone, Daryl. I mean it. If something happens to you, who’s going to come back and tell me I look like shit?”

“Pretty sure Tara would be up for it,” Daryl quipped with a slight smirk, earning a bone-crunching squeeze of his hand. “Hey! Watch it, asshole! I need that hand to shoot my bow.” Despite the gruffness of Daryl’s voice, there was no malice behind the words, and the archer leaned down to steal a quick kiss. “You just focus on getting better. You’re the best fighter we got.”

Though he no longer felt like the best fighter, Jesus nodded and reluctantly let go of Daryl’s hand, watching the archer get to his feet and move the chair back against the wall. Daryl made it to the foot of the bed before he stop and turned to look at Jesus.

“Hey…”

There was a moment where Paul thought that Daryl might actually say the words that the two of them had never dared to say one another. The softness in the man’s gaze, the gentle tone. His heart stopped in his chest as he waited on tenterhooks for the next words.

“‘Least your hair don’t look like shit.” Daryl smirked, then swept out of the hospital trailer.

Jesus sighed in mild annoyance, but a smile stretched his lips anyway. That was as close to hearing those three little words as he was going to get…and he would gladly take it.


End file.
